1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a distributed, information gathering and processing system, and more specifically, to such a system for remotely acquiring and processing data related to a phenomenon or phenomena being monitored by metering devices. Although the present invention has particular usefulness in the area of acquiring and processing utility service consumption and/or distribution information, and will be described in connection with same, other uses are contemplated for the present invention, including remote acquisition and processing of data from distributed pollution monitoring devices for use e.g. in pollution analysis and/or control applications, remote acquisition and processing of information related to vending machine usage and/or operation, and other uses.
2. Brief Description of Related Prior Art
Utility companies, such as those providing electric, gas and water service, measure the consumption of their respective services by customers via meters attached to the customer premises. Such meters continually monitor and record the amount of the service in question consumed by a particular customer and such measurements are used by the utility company for billing and system management purposes. Two types of conventional utility meters exist: machine readable and non-machine-readable type meters.
Machine-readable utility meters typically come in one of two types, pulse/Hall effect and encoder type meters. Pulse and encoder meters are considered machine readable because they produce a signal corresponding to the amount of utility service used by a particular customer, which signal can be read mechanically and/or electronically.
Pulse type meters, e.g., water meters, utilize a pulse generated by an internally mounted magnet coupled to the meter vane; each pulse corresponds to one unit of utility consumption. The pulses are used to increment a mechanical counter or odometer mounted outside of the customer premises.
Encoder type meters have a digital circuit board built into the meter's register head which is used to electronically measure the level of customer utility consumption. The digital circuit board is wired to an externally mounted induction-coupled or standard pin-type receptacle. The meter is read by inserting a data collection device, also known as a gun, into the receptacle. The gun sends a signal into the meter which in turn causes the meter to send a digital representation of the current meter reading into the gun where it is stored. The information can later be downloaded to a utility company computer to process same.
Non-machine-readable meters consist of those meters that can only be read via visual inspection of meter display mechanisms (e.g., analog dials and/or alphanumeric digital displays located on the meter faces).
One typical system utilized by utility companies for accessing utility usage information requires one or more human meter readers to visit every customer premises and physically read each customer's utility meter, whether by visual inspection (e.g., if the meter being read is a non-machine-readable type of meter) or by use of a gun (e.g., if the meter being read is an encoder type of machine-readable meter). In practice, this system of meter reading is extremely costly and time consuming, because the utility company must pay the meter readers for the time spent traveling to and from customer sites and reading the meters. In addition, unrealized revenues due to extending credit to utility consumers for months at a time can disturb the utility company's cashflow and investment. Thus, the utility industry has recognized the need for an automated system for reading and more closely managing utility consumption. In response to this need, various systems have been provided for automatically reading and processing utility meters.
One such conventional system involves use of meters equipped with radio frequency (RF) transmitters which transmit meter reading data to one or more remote locations so as to eliminate the need for human readers to go to each customer premises to read the customers' meters. Essentially, an RF meter of the type used in this conventional system consists of a pulse or encoder type of machine-readable meter having a small RF transmitter built into the meter head. The RF transmitter transmits signals corresponding to the pulses generated by the meter, in the case of a pulse-type meter, or in the case of an encoder-type of meter, the digital representation of the current meter reading, as an indication of the level of utility usage to either a utility company vehicle being driven in the vicinity, known as mobile RF, or to a remote receiver location in the vicinity, known as fixed RF. The information can later be downloaded to the utility company computer. One example of such a system is disclosed in Brunius, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,945, which utilizes a vehicle to access utility consumption information transmitted by RF transponders attached to the meters at the consumers' premises. A major shortcoming of this type of conventional system is that only machine-readable meters may be automatically read using the system; non-machine-readable meters still must be read via visual inspection by human meter readers.
Other types of conventional automatic meter reading systems utilize remote data units, or RDUs, also known as meter interface units, or MIUs, located at the consumer premises to automatically accumulate utility consumption data from the customer meters and communicate this information back to either a storage site or the utility company over a telephone network. Such conventional systems are of two types: outbound and inbound systems.
In a conventional outbound system, the utility company periodically calls each customer RDU to retrieve customer consumption data stored by the RDU. One example of an outbound system is disclosed in Honick, U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,152. In the Honick system, a utility company central computer communicates with an RDU located at the customer's premises through a special subscriber test trunk telephone line which enables the utility computer to be connected to a particular RDU without ringing the customer's telephone. The system allows the utility computer to call and access any RDU in the system at any time as long as the phone at the customer site is not is use. Such access, known as a demand read, may be necessary when, for example, the utility needs to prepare a final bill because utility service to a customer is to be terminated or discontinued. However, this system has the significant disadvantage of requiring expensive special test trunk access circuitry which must be installed at each telephone exchange to enable the utility computer to communicate with the RDU without ringing the consumer's telephone line. Further disadvantageously, this system also cannot be used automatically read non-machine-readable meters, but rather, solely can be used to automatically read machine-readable meters.
Another conventional outbound system is disclosed in Sollinger, U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,011. The Sollinger system includes a sensor at each customer's premises for automatically reading the customer's meters, a microcomputer for accepting and storing the data from the sensor, a communications interface connected to the microcomputer, a main computer at a location remote from the customer's premises, and a communications link between the customer's premises and the main computer, wherein the main computer continually polls each customer's meter to initiate transmission of the reading data to the remote location over the communications link. The Sollinger system further comprises means for periodically transmitting the reading data to utility company computers for billing purposes. Unfortunately, in this system, the main computer must continually poll each customer premises rather than having the utility usage data sent automatically from the customer premises to the main computer. Also, disadvantageously, this system is unable to automatically read non-machine-readable meters, and is only able to automatically read machine-readable meters.
Conventional inbound systems are programmed to place a call to a utility billing computer or to a storage facility to download meter readings at specific, pre-defined time intervals. In addition, some conventional inbound systems are bi-directional, meaning that they allow the utility company to make readings on demand much like in a conventional outbound system.
One prior art inbound system is disclosed in Verma, U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,618. The Verma system comprises RDUs located at each customer's premises for accumulating and reporting utility usage data from machine-readable utility meters at the premises, and a utility data processor or UDP located at the utility site for collecting the usage data sent from the RDUs over a conventional telephone network. The system is designed to count each rotation of the least significant dial of the utility meters. Verma also discloses an encoder meter in which the need for a sensor interface is eliminated by providing the meter with built-in circuitry which encodes the utility usage information into an electrical signal which is read directly by the microcomputer.
Also in Verma's disclosed system, at a specified, pre-determined times during one day of a billing cycle (which Verma terms a "report time"), the RDUs call the UDP and transmits the utility usage information, which the RDUs have accumulated and stored, to the UDP via the conventional telephone network. The report time is programmed into the RDUs. In addition, an answer window is opened on the system on a predetermined regular basis, e.g., each day, during which the UDP can call the RDUs to obtain utility usage information. This answer window is also programmed into the RDUs. Only during the answer window can the RDUs receive a call from the UDP. Thus, only during the answer window can the utility company recover usage information on demand. The report times may be programmed into the RDUs at the time of installation or by the UDP during a communication therewith.
During the answer window, the RDUs are awakened and await calls from the UDP. All calls that come to the RDUs during the answer window, whether from the UDP or a third party, are detected through ring detection circuitry, which then prevents the telephone from ringing inside the customer premises. Each incoming call then receives a signal from the RDU receiving the call, which signal requests log-in information and a password. If the log-in information and password are not conveyed to the RDU receiving the call (such as is the case when a third party other than the utility company is calling during the answer window), the RDU will terminate the call. If the proper log-in information and password are given to the RDU, the RDU will know that the UDP is calling and will transmit the desired information.
Disadvantageously, Verma's disclosed system interferes with normal utility customer telephone service by preventing third party calls from being received by utility customers during the answer window. Also disadvantageously, Verma's disclosed system requires use of machine-readable utility meters, and cannot automatically acquire and process reading data from non-machine-readable utility meters.
Examples of other conventional meter readings systems are disclosed in Pettis, U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,490; Thomborough et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,131; Thomborough et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,761; Garcia et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,351; White et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,575; and Cerny et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,894. Unfortunately, each of these conventional systems suffers from the aforesaid and/or other disadvantages and drawbacks of the prior art systems discussed above.